To make their point, the drill instructors accentuated their tiny waists with belts cinched so tight they had to remove them when sitting in the drillinstructor hut so they could breathe.
The hero, Swofford himself (Jake Gyllenhaal), gets pounded by officers, first by a drillinstructor and then by the sergeant (Jamie Foxx) who heads his special Marine unit, and hazed by his buddies.